I fear that I have bored my readers in thus giving the tiresome details
of that ingenuous American pastime which my countrymen dismiss in their
epigrammatic way as the "freezing-out process." And lest any reader
should question the ethics of the proceeding, I beg him to remember that
one gentleman accomplished in this art was always a sincere and direct
opponent of the late Mr. John Oakhurst, gambler.
But for once the Great Master of Avarice had not taken into sufficient
account the avarice of others, and was suddenly and virtuously shocked
to learn that an application for a patent for certain lands, known as
the "Red-Rock Rancho," was about to be offered before the United
States Land Commission. This claim covered his mining property. But
the information came quietly and secretly, as all of the Great Master's
information was obtained, and he took the opportunity to sell out his
clouded title and his proprietorship to the only remaining member of
the original "Blue Mass Company," a young fellow of pith, before
many-tongued rumor had voiced the news far and wide.
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